In the wake of the recent collapse of the Assad regime in December 2024, Syria witnessed a moment once thought unimaginable: prisons that stood as sites of brutality and repression now being opened. Thousands who were once trapped behind their walls emerged, yet the physical and psychological scars of detention remain, as does the pervasive lack of knowledge around those whose fates remain unknown. 

This turning point raises urgent questions about justice, memory, and the future. How will the opening of these prisons shape accountability efforts? Can former sites of repression be transformed into spaces of truth-telling and justice? And how can we ensure that these prisons—and the systems of violence they represent—do not return?

The MENA Prison Forum (MPF) invites contributions in the form of short essays that critically engage with the implications of this shift. We welcome submissions that explore themes such as:

• The role of former detainees in shaping justice and accountability pathways.
• The politics of memory through preserving testimonies, sites, and archives of detention.
• The challenges of transitional justice, and how local, vernacular efforts can be co-opted or fail to prevent future repression.
• Comparative reflections on past prison closures and their aftermath (from Latin America and Africa to the Balkans).
• Artistic, literary, and activist interventions that challenge dominant narratives of incarceration.

Submissions should be 700–1,000 words, can be written in Arabic or English, and will be published on the MPF blog and shared across our networks.

Those interested should send a short pitch (150 words maximum) outlining a) your background and b) your proposed topic to: [email protected]